U.S. Pat. No. 6,079,168 granted to Shaver on Jun. 27, 2007 and entitled PARTIALLY TRANSPARENT STORM SHUTTER, for example, exemplifies storm windows of the panel type construction. Aside from the resistance characteristics of the panel, this patent describes opaque panels that are anchored adjacent to a door or window and suggest that this is not desirable for the occupants of the premises because it darkens the indoors. This patent suggests solving this problem by including having some of the panels be made from a transparent plastic sheet such as material made from polycarbonate.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,957,186 granted to Boswell on Sep. 28, 1999 entitled HIGH IMPACT RESISTANT STORM SHUTTERS and 6,546,681 granted to Trundle on Apr. 15, 2003 entitled ALUMINUM/PLASTIC COMBINATION ACCORDION STORM SHUTTER BLADE disclose storm shutters of the sliding type where each panel is hinged to the adjacent panel and the unit slides horizontally to be stored on the side of the window or door of the premises. In other words, the panels are similar to an accordion and slide and fold in the stored position. These patentees are also aware of the darkness that occurs when the shutters are deployed. In the '186 patent, for example, the patentee teaches using slits or small openings in the panels to provide the passage of light. The '681 patent, for example, teaches using slats made from a transparent material that are combined with the opaque slats. All the above-mentioned patents are incorporated in their entirety herein by reference.
This patent application addresses the same problem that is alluded to in the above paragraphs and this is, namely, admitting light into the premises when opaque shutters are deployed. However, this invention is more concerned with the accordion type of shutters as opposed to the panel type of shutters and addresses the problem where the shutters are already installed on window, door and the like on the premises. In accordance with this invention, a porthole type of insert made from a transparent material such as polycarbonate, that includes a first member that has an outer circular diameter greater than the diameter of the cut=out which is one of two dimensions and an inner circular diameter of a smaller dimension (the other of the 2 dimensions) that fits through the cut-out formed in the slat of one of the slats of the shutter unit and the smaller diameter includes threads formed on the outer periphery. A ring member with complementary threads is mounted on the opposite side of the slat so as to engage the threaded the smaller diameter member so as to lock the first member to the slat. For the purpose of understanding this invention, the window of this invention is sometimes referred to as “accordian window”.